By fueling identity politics and undermining civil society, Western economic pressure actually helps prop up the system. Behzad Sarmadi is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto's Department of...

Islamic Republic could be moving toward Soviet-style command and control economic management. Q&A with Gary Clyde Hufbauer, the Reginald Jones Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The...

A questionable quest for "authenticity" in the Iranian diaspora. Sanaz Raji is a Ph.D. scholar at the Institute of Communication Studies, University of Leeds, and associate lecturer of postcolonial media...

Islamic Republic's increased isolation, vulnerability open door to serious negotiations. Pouya Alimagham is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan's history program. You can follow him on Twitter...

Watershed event symbolizes community's remarkable progress. Amir Bagherpour is the first Iranian-born graduate of West Point. He recently completed his Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate University in political science with a...

U.S.-Iranian relations affect the entire community. Nobar Elmi is the director of community outreach and programming at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). She previously served as a legislative...

Politics on the pitch. [ comment ] FIFA administers six continental football confederations. One of them, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), in turn, directs each Asian football federation, such...

Some things are certain and lasting...and then there are Supreme Leaders' "fatwas." Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi is a doctoral student in modern Middle East studies at Queens College, University of Oxford. Jame'eye...

Arash and Kamiar Alaei, physicians specializing in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, were found guilty in 2009 of "cooperating with an enemy government" and sentenced to five years' imprisonment....

Research finds exceptional gap between people's values and form of government. Amir Bagherpour leads a public policy research initiative at the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA). The...

Emphasize potential rewards rather than further punishments. Angie Ahmadi is an associate at the National Iranian American Council. [ opinion ] The recent nuclear negotiations between Iran and the U.N....

Imprisoned for no offense other than defending her fellow Iranians' human rights. Muhammad Sahimi, a professor at the University of Southern California, is a columnist for Tehran Bureau and contributes...

Relations with Islamic Republic unlikely to improve under Egypt's shadow government. Amir Bagherpour leads a public policy research initiative at the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA). The first...

The Colbert ReportGet More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive From the "clown phase" to "The Godfather," other immigrant experiences have a lot to teach. Amir Bagherpour...

Cross-dressed guerrillas fail to terrorize Afghans. Nushin Arbabzadah writes the "Islamic Republic Next Door" column on Afghanistan for Tehran Bureau. She is a former BBC journalist and a regular contributor...

Iranian regime mocks international rights norms, legal processes. [ comment ] After a semester spent studying the intricacies of international human rights law and institutions, cynical law students all invariably...

Western media and political distortions wind up serving the interests of the Islamic Republic's dictatorial regime in brief The promotion of "Iranophobia," based on the notion that the Islamic Republic...

Editor's note: Earlier this month, a group of Iranian activists in the diaspora issued a statement calling on the Islamic Republic to "temporarily and conditionally suspend its uranium enrichment" and...

Diverging interests, different regional visions strain powers' partnership. [ analysis ] By all accounts, it's been a tough year for Iran. The recent revelation of an alleged Iranian assassination plot...

Electoral concerns should not interfere with opportunity for progress on nuclear issue. [ opinion ] The U.N. General Assembly starts today and as expected, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made...

[ Q&A ] A conversation with Geoffrey Kemp, director, Center for the National Interest's regional strategic programs. He served on the National Security Council during the first Reagan administration and...

If the criticism is sincere, what exactly is the alternative? [ opinion ] The ever-deepening rift between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the expanding confrontation between their respective...

How about a pro-Ahmadinejad rally? [ opinion ] The controversy over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's unsuccessful sacking of Heydar Moslehi from his post as Iran's minister of intelligence shows no signs...

Clash between president and Supreme Leader comes into clearer view. [ comment ] The resignation of Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cabinet and the ensuing controversy are...

Iranian government structure, international political rhetoric occlude reform's most viable prospect. [ comment ] From the perspective of a casual observer or even the most seasoned political journalist, Mahmoud...

[ profile ] The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has announced that Iranian journalist Dr. Ahmad Zeidabadi, currently serving a six-year prison sentence and banned for life...

Iran draws lesson from Libyan operation far different from what the West intended. [ opinion ] I remember my professor at Florida International University referring to the Qaddafi regime's scuttling...

Regime insists 1979 Revolution inspired 2011 uprisings, fears very different parallels. [ analysis ] Egypt's revolution has been reverberating throughout the Middle East and North Africa, terrifying every dictator and...

Muslim Brotherhood's involvement won't necessarily produce comforting result for Iranian regime. [ comment ] Strategically, Iran is hedging its position on the new Middle East turmoil. The theocrats like to...

Tehran public transportation at center of national political wrangle. [ analysis ] The rivalry between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has turned Tehran's public transportation into...

The former foreign minister's sole evident skill? Survival. [ analysis ] Almost three weeks after the event, the unorthodox and unusually brusque manner in which former Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr...

Stories of democracy's courageous champions and the conditions of their imprisonment. [ spotlight ] Since June 2009, when Iran's rigged presidential election was held, the international community has learned much...

Rationalization program of unusual design serves multiple objectives. [ analysis ] Once again, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have confounded his adversaries without their realizing it. In the week since the...

Ramin dismissed from press oversight post. Vice President Rahimi under new prosecution threat. [ opinion ] The ouster of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and the long-awaited implementation of the government's...

A closer look underscores the Islamic Republic's growing influence in the region. [ analysis ] With WikiLeaks' release of more than 250,000 confidential diplomatic cables between the United States and...

A tradition of democratic struggle, still undaunted. In anticipation of 16 Azar (December 7), the 57th anniversary of University Student Day in Iran, Green students at Tehran's major universities issued...

[ comment ] Iran's military leaders, both in the regular military and the Revolutionary Guards, cannot be pleased with trends in the regional military balance. They retain formidable retaliatory power...

Economic pressure campaign on Iran creates unintended victims in the U.S. [ opinion ] The most important question facing foreign policy analysts concerned with U.S.-Iran relations is whether U.S. sanctions...

Proceed with caution. Editor's Note:In March 2011, a few months after we originally published this piece, FRONTLINE/Tehran Bureau received a complaint from a blogger who posted on Commentary magazine's web...

Heads of two elite institutions replaced. For Iranian academics, last week was anything but promising. Kamran Daneshjou, minister for higher education, appointed new presidents for two of the country's most...

Revelatory production of Verdi opera evokes contemporary struggles. I have never understood the charm of Brussels, certainly not its urban architecture, which combines historic monuments with 1980s structures in defiance...

Ahmadinejad's guileful rationalizations require a firm response. [ opinion ] Last week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once again came to New York City, this time to participate in the Nuclear...

Green leaders' dubious derision of popular slogans. [ analysis ] Several months after beginning their march alongside the people and camaraderie with them, the leaders of the Green Movement eventually...

Budget funds earmarked for culture largely spent on institutions that back the president. [ analysis ] The administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is using state funds to spread its political...

[ comment ] The 1979 Iranian Revolution took place during the Cold War, when Third World societies were deeply affected by anti-imperial ideologies. The Revolution's politicized Islamic movement was influenced...

Reflections on Dr. King's Influence on the Pro-Democracy Movement in Iran "The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community. The aftermath of nonviolence is redemption. The aftermath...

A Response to Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett Flynt Leverett directs the New America Foundation's Iran Initiative and is a professor of international affairs at Pennsylvania State University. Hillary...

[ analysis ]An Iranian-style intifada seems to be in the making. At the beginning of the current period of opposition, which started soon after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial reelection, quiet periods...

[ comment ] Iran's judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani has become the latest high-ranking Iranian official to express skepticism about an international proposal to send the country's nuclear fuel abroad for...

Khatami's withdrawal from the election campaign is bad news for Ahmadinejad. By GARETH SMYTH in Beirut [Tehran Bureau] The withdrawal of Mohammad Khatami from Iran's presidential election has disappointed...

Iran's reformists may run three candidates for president, boosting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chances of being re-elected.By GARETH SMYTH in Beirut In 2004, around 80 reformist deputies staged a sit-in and...

Photo/Effie-Michelle MetallidisBy EFFIE-MICHELLE METALLIDIS in Shiraz My hand scrapes along a wall of fallen Persepolis as the sun wanes. We've reached the site just as the centuries-old ritual between...